


What If?

by ciitadel



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: ALSO WE GOT ART NOW BITCHES, AU, Alternate Universe, Bullying, Death, Drinking, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Smoking, Supernatural - Freeform, Time Travel, Underage Drinking, Underage Smoking, Warning: Hipsters, but whatevs, check this shit out, keith is a punk, lance has time powers, life is strange au, lots of angst near the end especially, shirogane is shiroGONE, so if you're interested in that, sorry for making nyma and rolo the 'bad guys', the plot is pretty much almost exactly that of life is strange
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-14
Updated: 2017-07-25
Packaged: 2018-12-02 01:10:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 10,927
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11498622
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ciitadel/pseuds/ciitadel
Summary: “I SAID GET THAT GUN AWAY FROM ME!” The boy yelled as he grabbed Rolo by the shoulders, shoving him back as hard as he could. As he did so, a shot rang out in the bathroom, and the boy’s eyes widened as a patch of bright scarlet bloomed in his abdomen.Rolo took a step back as the boy began to fall to the floor, time seeming to slow as Lance felt himself step out from his hiding place.“NO!” He shouted, raising up his right hand as if on instinct. Suddenly, Lance began to feel a strange pressure in his head the falling boy’s descent seemed to slow, before the world around him seemed to… reverse?or the one in which Lance witnesses a literal murder in his high school bathroom only to realize he can rewind timeaka the life is strange au this fandom really didn't need but I decided to write anyway





	1. Lance lurks in bathrooms

**Author's Note:**

> Hey y'all guess who got reminded of her favorite video game and decided to make an au based off of it
> 
> So basically I saw some amazing fanart of this au by the lovely [Vel](http://velocesmells.tumblr.com/) and was majorly inspired to write an au for one of my all time fav games
> 
> If you have not played the game Life is Strange be warned that this story is going to follow the plot nearly exactly to that of the game so beware of spoilers!
> 
> also yes i'm totally aware i'm ripping the title straight from the concept title for life is strange whoops
> 
> Also WARNING: As of this moment I am VERY unsure as to if I will continue this work/how far I will get into the plot. I'm about to have a lot of busy stuff going on in my life + I have a rather bad tendency to lose focus in my writing projects rather quickly which is a habit I have tried to break but tbh it's really hard to write when you've lost interest in the project
> 
> BUT I WILL STILL TRY MY BEST TO CONTINUE THIS! So let me know if you like it and let's get on with the chapter!

Time.

 

Humans only see time going forwards. Straight, linear, and completely understandable. 

 

But just because that’s how humans see it, doesn’t mean that’s how time actually is. 

 

Time is fluid. It can go forwards, backwards, off to different sides in parallel timelines, and more. 

 

Humans have never been able to control the flow of time. 

  
  


At least, that is, until now. 

 

~

 

It was cold.

 

That was the first thing Lance thought of as he slowly came into consciousness, barely aware of the stinging rain pelting against his face like bullets. 

 

He didn’t know where he was or how he had gotten here. As he pushed himself out of the mud and onto his feet, his blurry eyes adjusted to the storm raging around him, and he felt a spark of recognition as he took in the tree-lined path in front of him. He had been here before. But when?

 

Lance was lost in thought for a few seconds before the sound of a crashing branch brought him back to the reality in front of him. Here he was, in the middle of a very dangerous seeming storm, thinking about why this placed seemed familiar when one of these trees could fall over and kill him at any second. 

 

Lance was a dumbass.

 

Realizing he needed to get to safety, Lance looked up and saw a towering lighthouse in the distance, a shining beacon of hope amidst Mother Nature’s rage. Somehow, Lance just  _ knew _ that if he got to the lighthouse, he’d be safe. As if some invisible and all-knowing force was guiding him towards safety.

 

He began to move. Taking steps was difficult in the face of the wild wind whipping around him, but he held his hands in front of his face to shield himself, and slowly but surely made his way to the lighthouse. One step at a time, one foot in front of the other. As Lance came up upon the bluff the lighthouse was perched on, his eyes widened as he took in the full view of what was causing this crazy storm. 

 

The last thing he expected to see was a tornado.

 

A giant fucking tornado, coasting across the sea like a rageful God, was headed straight for the town of Castle Bay. 

 

“Holy shit!” Lance yelled to himself, having a difficult time tearing his gaze away from the terrifying example of nature’s wrath. Why the hell was there a tornado here?! This was Oregon! They never got tornadoes! 

 

Suddenly, a large creaking noise shifted his attention from the tornado to the lighthouse behind him, and before he could even think about moving out of the way, Lance watched as the top of the tower broke off and came hurtling down, straight towards him. 

 

~

 

“NO!” Lance yelped as he shot straight up in his seat, eyes glancing around the classroom in a panic as he tried to distinguish dream from reality. His panicked gaze met that of several curious students, and it took him a full second to realize he was not about to meet his untimely demise at the hands of a freak tornado. 

 

“Alfred Hitchcock once called film, ‘little pieces of time.’ But, he could've been talking about photography, as he likely was.” The familiar voice of Mr. L broke through Lance’s confusion, and he saw his photography teacher strolling around the room, partially shadowed by the afternoon sun streaming through the windows. 

 

_ There’s no storm… damn, that dream was so realistic.  _ Lance thought to himself. 

 

“These pieces of time can frame us in our glory and our sorrow; from light to shadow; from color to chiaroscuro. Now, would someone care to give me an example of a photographer who perfectly captured the human condition?” The teacher inquired, his gaze searching among the dead-eyed students populating the room. Unsurprisingly, Nyma, perfect and gorgeous Nyma raised her hand, a brilliant smile spread across her face. 

 

“Diane Arbus.” She answered in a cool tone. Lance had to hold himself back from groaning out loud. Nyma was always saying the right answers, doing the right thing, being utterly perfect in the opinions of the teachers. Little did they know, Nyma was a complete bitch. Her constant torment of Lance was proof enough of that. 

 

At the beginning of the year, Lance had gotten a major crush on Nyma and asked her out. She rejected him and hadn't let him live it down since. 

 

And now, she hated him, and strived to make his life a living hell. 

 

Lance looked back down at his desk and proceeded to zone out what was going on in the class as he absentmindedly flipped through the worn pages of his journal, his mind drifting back to that tornado. He didn't remember falling asleep, and that seemed far too real to be just a dream. There was something about that… vision, for lack of a better word, that made him feel uneasy. 

 

As he turned each page of his journal, smiling at the messy doodles and scribbled notes that littered, a small polaroid slid out of the journal and onto the floor. Lance leaned over to pick it up and frowned when he saw what it was. 

 

It was his entry for the Everyday Heroes competition. 

 

He’d taken it a few days before, and although it had seemed like a good idea at the time, now Lance couldn’t help but grimace when he saw the photo he’d taken. This was such a stupid idea, there was no way he could hand this in to Mr. L. He could practically hear Nyma’s snarky remarks now. 

 

Putting the photo down, Lance closed his journal and sighed. As much as Mr. L wanted him to, he wasn’t going to enter the Everyday Heroes competition and his teacher would just have to deal. Glancing up, Lance watched as a paper ball flew across the air from Nyma’s side of the room, hitting a girl named Allura right on the face. He winced in sympathy, and watched as Allura gave Nyma a dirty look, before turning back to her notebook. 

 

Poor Allura. If Nyma wasn’t terrorizing Lance, she was terrorizing Allura. As far as Lance knew, Allura had done nothing to deserve Nyma’s hatred. It seemed as though Nyma picked her victims based on the slightest of inconveniences a person could cause her. 

 

Lance turned his attention back to the other things on his desk, and cocked his head to the side when he noticed that the small keychain he had on his camera looked perilously close to coming untied. 

 

Lance grabbed his camera and began fiddling with the knot in an attempt to tighten it. He put it down on his lap and changed his grip on the camera to try to get a better angle, when suddenly he was blinded by the light of his flash going off. Lance blinked rapidly as his spotted vision slowly cleared, and when he looked back up at the room he noticed that everyone in the class was staring at him. Lance felt his cheeks flush with embarrassment as he turned to face the eyes of Mr. L. 

 

“It seems as though Lance has decided to take a ‘selfie’, which is a rather dumb word for a wonderful tradition that is seen throughout the history of photography. As all of you know, the photographic self-portrait has been around since the 1800’s.” Mr. L said, looking around the room with a small smile, before turning his attention back to Lance. 

 

“Now Lance, since you’ve gotten the attention of the room and seemingly want to join in on our conversation, would you care to tell us the name of the process that gave birth to the first self-portrait?” Lance blanched at the question, his mind turning into a frenzy of panic as he tried to remember what the process was called. Shit shit shit… what was it? 

 

“Uh… I… I  _ did  _ know, I swear! I just, uh, kinda forgot?” Lance winced at his own answer, and Mr. L frowned. 

 

“You either know this or not, Lance,” He said, his hand hitting the desk he was leaning against in frustration. “Now is there anyone else here who knows what we’re talking about?” 

 

To absolutely no one’s surprise, Nyma’s hand immediately shot up, and Lance had to clench his fist to keep from rolling his eyes. 

 

“The Daguerreian Process, sir.” Nyma said in a saccharine tone. She turned to Lance and gave him a mocking smirk, and Lance resisted the urge to stick his tongue out at her. 

 

“Very good, Nyma. The first American daguerreotype self-portrait was done by Robert Cornelius-” Mr. L was cut off when the sound of the bell jolted the students out of their half-asleep stupors, and he gave a resigned grin as everyone began to pack up. 

 

“I hope none of you forget the deadline to submit an entry for the Everyday Heroes competition. If you win you will fly out with me to San Francisco and not only will you gain invaluable exposure, you might even kickstart a career in photography. So Plaxum, Florona, get your stuff together. Shay, don’t hide from me, I’m waiting for your entry too. And Lance, I know you’re pretending not to see me but don’t think I forgot about you.” Lance flushed again as his name was called, and he very pointedly avoided looking at Mr. L as he finished packing his bag. 

 

Slinging his strap over his shoulder, Lance was prepared to make a break for the door when he noticed that Allura hadn’t stood up yet, and was slouching heavily over her desk.

 

“Hey, Allura, you alright? You seem quiet today.” Lance asked as he stepped over to her. The girl straightened up at the sound of her name, almost looking like a deer caught in headlights until she realized who was talking to her. She breathed a small sigh of relief and smiled at Lance. 

 

“Yes Lance, I’m fine, thank you for asking. I’m just having an off day is all.” She answered, glancing down at the ground. 

 

“I feel you there. Do you wanna go grab a cup of tea and rant about life?” Lance asked. 

 

“I’d love to but I have homework I need to go over. Maybe some other time?” Lance nodded enthusiastically.

 

“Yeah sure, sounds good to me, Allura.” Allura gave him a small smile and turned back to her notebook, and Lance took that as an end to the conversation. He made a beeline to the door, anxious to get out of class so he could just head back to his dorm and relax, when a voice stopped him.

 

“Lance, before you leave could you actually come talk to me for a moment?” Lance let out a small groan to himself as he slowly turned around to where Mr. L was giving him a knowing look from his desk. Nyma was also standing at the desk, her body draped over it in a borderline seductive way, her eyes half-lidded as she stared up at her teacher. 

 

“Yeah Mr. L?” Lance asked, trying to keep the exasperation out of his tone as he approached the desk. He ignored the poisonous glare Nyma directed at him as he interrupted whatever chat she was having with their teacher. 

 

“I believe you still haven’t handed in your photo for the competition.” He said, waggling his finger back and forth at Lance as he shook his head. 

 

“Uh, well, the thing is,” How could Lance tell him he had taken the photo but he was just too damn scared to hand it in? “I… I don’t really think I want to. I just don’t think it’s that big of a deal, ya know?” Lance let out a nervous chuckle and winced at how bad his lying was. What was it about Mr. L that unnerved him so much? He was a rather cool dude, cracking jokes in class and keeping a casual atmosphere between him and his students. But there was just something about him that made him extremely hard to lie to. 

 

Also there was the fact that he was completely drop-dead gorgeous. With his sharp cheekbones and jawline, a shock of pure white hair, and angular dark eyes, he was practically a model. It was without a doubt that Mr. L was the resident hot young teacher of Voltron Academy. Not to mention he also happened to be a world-famous photographer, where he was more commonly known as Lotor instead of Mr. L. 

 

Mr. L sighed at Lance’s answer, and ran a hand through his long, white hair in an exasperated manner, before he began to tie back the silky strands with a hair tie.

 

“Lance, you're a better photographer than you are a liar.” He said good-naturedly, twisting the hair tie around to secure his hair into a ponytail. “Look, I know it seems like I'm pushing you a lot on this but that's only because I know you have a gift. You already have the skill set and the portfolio, this competition could be just the thing to jumpstart your career in photography. You just have to have the courage to pursue what you want.” Lance flushed at the praise, and was about to respond when Mr. L continued.

 

“If you need more time to get your entry ready that's fine. Just remember that having the courage to actually do something with your art is what separates the artist from the ameteur, and you’re no ameteur.” Lance nodded, grateful that the conversation was over, and Mr. L smiled and gave him a nod to leave.

 

Lance nearly ran out the door and into the throng of students milling about the hallway. Sighing in relief, he pressed his back against the wall and took a deep breath, trying to calm the nervous swirling in his abdomen that started anytime he thought about the photo competition. Maybe if he splashed his face with some water he would feel better. After waiting a few seconds to gather his thoughts, Lance pulled his earbuds out of his bag and turned on his playlist, and let the smooth notes of the guitar block out the rest of the world. 

 

Making his way down the hallway, Lance waded through the crowds of students like he was pushing through waves of water. He waved hi at those he knew, and hurried through towards the bathrooms. Right before he got to the bathrooms, he passed the school security guard, Mr. Kolivan, who gave him a dirty look. Lance frowned in confusion. He had never even spoken to Mr. Kolivan before, but he’d heard from others about how much of an asshat the guy was. If possible, Lance just wanted to avoid the man as much as he could. Hurrying past Kolivan, Lance pushed his way into the bathroom and breathed a huge sigh of relief when he saw it was empty. 

 

“Thank god.” He muttered to himself, stepping over to the sink. Lance looked in the mirror and sighed when he saw the dark bags underneath his eyes. Lately he’d been having to pull a few late nights to finish all his homework in time and that was not doing his skin any favors. Maybe he could try a different face mask this weekend to make his exhaustion less prominent. Lance shrugged and leaned over the sink, and splashed a bit of the cool water on his face, feeling his thoughts clear with the cold and refreshing sensation.

 

Lifting his face up from the sink, Lance stared at himself in the dirty reflection as he began to dry his face with his jacket sleeves, and noticed his face already looked a bit less pale.

 

“There, at least I don’t look like a zombie anymore.” Lance muttered to himself, about to turn to the door when he noticed a flicker of movement behind him in the reflection. Turning around, Lance gasped as he spotted a bright butterfly gently flying around the bathroom. Lance watched it as it lazily flapped around the room, mesmerized by it’s ruby red wings, until it came to rest on the edge of an empty metal bucket that was hidden away in the corner of the bathroom, behind the wall of the last stall. 

 

Holy shit. He had to get a picture of this. 

 

Kneeling down, Lance moved slowly as he positioned himself, not wanting to scare the butterfly off. He looked through his camera, and in one quick snap, the camera flashed and the moment was captured. At the sound of the picture being taken the butterfly flew off, and Lance grabbed the polaroid as it was printed and began to shake it, eager to see how the image had turned out. Before he could get a chance to look however, Lance heard the door to the bathroom open, and he immediately shrunk back into the corner out of instinct.

 

“It’s okay dude, you’re okay, you got this.” He heard a guy’s voice say, seemingly talking to himself. Frowning, Lance peeked his head out from the corner, and immediately recognized the student as none other than Rolo Prescott, pacing back and forth in front of the mirrors as he muttered reassurances to himself. His one hand was shoved into the pocket of his jeans, while the other nervously fiddled with his beanie. Suddenly, the door to the bathroom opened again and Rolo whirled around, while Lance leapt back to hide behind the stall wall yet again.

 

“There you are,” A male voice said, heavy footsteps echoing throughout the bathroom. “I hope you checked the room to make sure no one else was in here.” The footsteps came closer and Lance shrunk back even further, heart pounding at the thought of being found.

 

“Just- ugh, what do you even want?” Rolo asked, his tone a mixture of both exhaustion and annoyance. The footsteps approaching Lance’s stall suddenly stopped cold.

 

“You know exactly what I want.” The unidentified voice answered in return, equally as annoyed.

 

“I’ve told you before, I don’t have that kind of cash.” The stranger’s shoes squeaked as they turned sharply on the tile floor.

 

“That’s bullshit and you know it, Rolo. You’re fucking loaded!” Lance’s eyes widened as he realized what he was accidentally bearing witness to, and couldn’t help but peek his head around the corner of the stall yet again to get a look at what was going on.

 

The newcomer’s back was turned to him, but Lance could see he had longish black hair cut into a  _ mullet _ of all things with a black beanie on top, and was wearing a loose white tank top with some rather beat-up seeming jeans along with a large pair of combat boots. 

 

Well. That explains the loud footsteps. 

 

“Wrong. That’s my family, not me.” Rolo answered, turning to glare at the boy from where he was leaning over the bathroom sink. 

 

“What a load of bullshit. I know you’ve been selling drugs and other shit all around campus here.” The boy sneered, placing his arm, which Lance noticed had a rather large and detailed tattoo on it, on the sink beside Rolo. “Look, you really only have two options here. One, you give me what I want and that’s it, we’re done, everyone goes home happy.” The boy leaned in closer, and Lance could see Rolo’s knuckles tighten on the edge of the sink. 

 

“Or two, I tell everyone, including your family, what you did. I’m sure the respectable Prescott’s would be thrilled to hear about what their son is doing at school. Oh, I can see the headlines now. Everyone, and I mean  _ everyone _ , is gonna know that Rolo Prescott is a punk ass who begs like a little girl and talks to himself-” The boy was suddenly cut off when Rolo turned on his heel towards him, whipping a gun out of his pocket and pointing it straight at the boy’s face. Lance gasped and quickly covered his hand with his mouth.

 

“WHAT THE- Where the fuck did you get a gun?!” The boy said, holding his hands up in front of him as his dark eyes widened. 

 

“You need to shut the fuck up, RIGHT NOW!” Rolo yelled, taking a threatening step towards the boy. “You have no clue who the hell you’re dealing with!” The boy continued to step back until his back hit the bathroom wall, and Rolo cornered him, pushing the gun against his abdomen.

 

Lance could do nothing but stare in abject horror, his body paralyzed with fear as he watched the terrifying scene in front of him unfold.

 

“W-Why the hell do you even have this thing?!” Rolo ignored the boy’s questions and put his arm on the wall beside the boy’s head, pushing the gun further into his stomach. 

 

“You know what? I don’t think anyone would even miss a punk shit like you, now would they?” Rolo seemed dangerously teetering on the edge of madness, his voice more hysteric with each growing second. 

 

“Rolo, get that gun away from me right now or I’m-”

 

“You’ll what? What are you gonna do, kiddo? I’m the one who has the upper-hand here!” Rolo slammed his hand against the wall beside the boy’s head, making Lance flinch in surprise.

 

Apparently this was all it took to make the boy snap, and the next few things happened so quickly Lance could barely comprehend what he was seeing.

 

“I SAID GET THAT GUN AWAY FROM ME!” The boy yelled as he grabbed Rolo by the shoulders, shoving him back as hard as he could. As he did so, a shot rang out in the bathroom, and the boy’s eyes widened as a patch of bright scarlet bloomed in his abdomen.

 

Rolo took a step back as the boy began to fall to the floor, time seeming to slow as Lance felt himself step out from his hiding place.

 

“NO!” He shouted, raising up his right hand as if on instinct. Suddenly, Lance began to feel a strange pressure in his head the falling boy’s descent seemed to slow, before the world around him seemed to… reverse?

 

It was like watching a tape on rewind, and Lance saw the boy stand back up as the blood disappeared from his stomach. The pressure in head continued to increase, and the edges of his vision went fuzzy as the world around him slowly turned to black.

 

His right hand remained outstretched the entire time, up until he lost consciousness completely.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys enjoyed! I'm going to try to get the next chapter (which is when the good stuff starts happening) up soon but I currently have another fic I am working on and need to update so the next update of this may not be for a little bit
> 
> Thank you guys so much for reading! If you enjoyed please let me know down in the comments! It always makes me super happy to hear others are enjoying my stuff!
> 
> My tumblr (send me a message! please! i wanna hear from you! you can come scream at me about klance or life is strange or yell at me for writing an au off of life is strange when we all know it's just gonna be painful at the end idc just talk to me!)
> 
> zarkondoms.tumblr.com


	2. This is the Weirdest Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance gets a grip on what just happened before having a series of unexpected run ins

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HEY GUYS IM BACK WITH A NEW CHAPTER
> 
> So after all the nice feedback I got from the first chapter I decided to go ahead and continue this! Also, WE GOT ART NOW
> 
> All the art in this chapter is done by the amazing Martsy-M whose art you can find [here](https://martsy-m.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Sorry this chapter took so long to publish, as some of you know I have another fic I'm also (trying) to regularly update and I am also involved in a fandom fic exchange and need to finish that before I get the next chapter of this
> 
> But seriously, thank you guys for your support so far, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter!

“WHAT THE-” Lance felt himself shoot up from where he had been laying his head against his desk, his eyes darting around wildly as he tried to understand what was going on. 

His mind was a swirling mess of memories and emotions, his body still trembling with fear and adrenaline as he kept flashing back to what he had just witnessed. Why was he in the classroom? Hadn’t he just been in the bathroom? That boy had been shot! 

_Okay, calm down Lance, go back and think about what had happened._ He told himself.

He had been in the bathroom. He had watched Rolo and that boy get into that argument. Rolo had pulled out a gun. The boy shoved him and the gun went off. Lance stepped out of his hiding place and held his hand out and… and…

And everything had rewound before going black.

Did… did he do that? Did he actually rewind time?

Lance almost laughed out loud. That was ridiculous. People couldn’t rewind time. It must’ve just been a crazy dream. That was it. Just a dream.

But how come he couldn’t seem to make himself believe that?

“Alfred Hitchcock once called film, ‘little pieces of time.’ But, he could've been talking about photography, as he likely was.” Lance glanced up at Mr. L as he walked around the classroom, who ran a hand through his long white hair as he went. “These pieces of time can frame us in our glory and our sorrow; from light to shadow; from color to chiaroscuro. Now, would someone care to give me an example of a photographer who perfectly captured the human condition?”

Wait, Lance had already heard this lecture. Nyma was going to raise her hand to answer any second now. She was going to say-

“Diane Arbus.” Nyma said in a cool tone, her expression brimming with smugness. Lance felt as if a lightning bolt had shot him straight through the heart, and he jumped in his seat, his arm accidentally shoving his camera off the table and onto the ground, where he heard something crack. That was exactly what he thought she was going to say. 

He remembered this. 

Maybe… Maybe it wasn’t a dream.

No one seemed to notice Lance’s current state of distress, and he stared at his camera blankly as he tried to work out what the hell was happening. His camera was ruined, that much was certain. Old, analog cameras like his own were delicate, and notoriously hard to come by, and he’d had this one for years now. It was going to be a bitch to find a replacement.

Wait. What if he didn’t have to?

How had he done it before? When he was in the bathroom? He remembered he had stepped out of his hiding place and held out his right hand, and then there was that weird pressure in his head as everything around him went backwards. 

Hesitantly, with trembling fingers, Lance held out his right hand again, just like how he had done in the bathroom. Reaching out, it almost felt as if he was… pushing into something. Something that couldn’t be seen, but could be felt. Something warm and full of energy. Like he was sticking his hand into a ray of sunlight slanting through a window. 

Pressure built behind his eyes and he moved his hand a little further out, and suddenly the world around him stopped.

And then everything rewound.

Lance watched with wide eyes as his vision became hazy. Mr. L began to walk backwards, his hands still gesturing as he lectured. The piece of paper someone had thrown at Allura flew off the ground and back into the perpetrators hand, who Lance noticed was Florona. And then, he looked down at his camera, and watched as the shattered glass around it zipped back into place, before the device flew back up to his desk, right where it had been before he pushed it off.

He pulled his hand back and time began to move forward again, Mr. L repeating the same words of the lecture he’d been saying a few minutes ago. Lance looked around the room, mouth agape, as he tried to comprehend what had just happened. 

He’d done it. He’d actually rewound time. 

“Holy shit...” He muttered to himself, looking at his right hand in awe. He had a real life superpower!

Either that or he was going crazy.

Wait, if he could rewind time, maybe he could go back and save that boy?

He had to get to the bathroom. 

“Mr. L?” Lance asked, his hand shooting straight up in the air. Mr. L glanced at him from the desk he was currently leaning again, his expression one of surprise. 

“Yes Lance?” Lance could hear the faint trace of annoyance intermixed with curiosity in his tone.

“Uh, I-I was wondering if I could go to the bathroom?” Lance asked, his heart rate picking up as he remembered the sound of the gunshot resonating throughout the bathroom. Mr. L stared at him for a moment, before giving him a knowing grin.

“Nice effort, Lance, but you’re not getting out of class just like that.” He paused and gazed into the distance, lost in thought. “Actually, I need you to stay after class, I want to talk to you.” Fuck! That was the absolute last thing Lance needed! He had to get to the bathroom as quickly as possible so he could save that boy!

Oh, yeah, he had time powers. He could just rewind that.

Reaching out his hand, Lance found it simple to rewind the conversation, making it so he never asked to go to the bathroom. Mr. L continued on with his lecture and Lance hardly paid attention. He tapped his fingers incessantly along the desk, anxious to get back to the bathroom before Rolo did. He felt as if every nerve was on fire, every little sound or movement making him nearly jump out of his skin. 

Finally though, _finally_ , the bell rang and Lance nearly leapt out of his seat, ready to bolt straight to the bathroom as fast as possible. But as soon as his hand touched the doorknob, Mr. L’s voice cut through his frenzy of scattered thoughts.

“Lance, before you leave could you actually come talk to me for a moment?” Lance wanted to scream. He had to get to the bathroom before Rolo did if he was going to save that boy’s life! He didn’t have time to chitchat with Mr. L about the photo competition. Reluctantly, Lance turned on his heel and stalked towards his teacher’s desk. Nyma gave him a dirty look as he walked over, obviously upset with him for interrupting her conversation with Lotor (as she tended to call him). 

“What’s up Mr. L?” Lance said as he approached, shifting nervously from foot to foot. 

“I believe you still haven’t handed in your photo for the competition.” He said, doing the same finger waggle as he had done the first time Lance had had this conversation with him. 

“Yeah I know, sorry about that, I’m working on it.” He said quickly, wanting nothing more than to sprint out of the room right then and there. Mr. L’s eyebrows raised in surprise, but he schooled his expression back into one of calm detachment almost as soon as it had come. 

“Oh, well, alright then, Lance. As long as you’re staying on top of it.” Mr. L said, tying his hair back with a ponytail band. 

“Yup, sure am.” Lance said, scratching the back of his neck. “Um, can I go now? I really do have to go to the bathroom.” Mr. L nodded and waved him off, and Lance gratefully made his retreat. 

Lance nearly sprinted down the hallway, pushing past students and faculty members alike as he tried to get to the bathroom as quickly as possible. Bursting through the door, Lance breathed a sigh of relief when he found it empty with no blood anywhere to be found. 

“Okay Lance, you gotta repeat exactly what you did before.” He muttered to himself, pacing about on the tile. Going over to the sink, he splashed water on it exactly as he had done before, and then as soon as he dried his face off he saw the butterfly float over, it’s crimson wings nearly glowing in the light. Taking out his camera, he crept over to the bucket the butterfly was perched on and snapped the photo. Grabbing the photo as it printed from his camera, he hastily fanned it before pocketing it, waiting for the moment that Rolo would arrive.

He didn’t have to wait long, and before he knew it, the boy and Rolo were in the heat of the argument yet again. 

“WHAT THE- Where the fuck did you get a gun?!” He heard the boy yell. Leaping to his feet, Lance’s eyes searched his hiding corner for some way to distract Rolo. Almost immediately, his gaze fell upon the fire alarm in the corner, light glinting off the glass that covered it, and he knew what to do.

He had to break that glass. 

Lance felt his heart rate pick up as the argument going on right around the corner escalated. Dropping to his knees, he looked around for any kind of rock or heavy object he could use to smash the glass. 

“You’ll what? What are you gonna do, kiddo? I’m the one who has the upper-hand here!” Lance felt his breath hitch as he knew what was coming next. 

“I SAID GET THAT GUN AWAY FROM ME!” The gunshot echoed off the walls, making Lance wince as tears burned at his eyes. No no NO! He had to stop this from happening! Holding out his hand, he rewound as far as he could, until his vision had spots and his head was throbbing. From what he could tell by the conversation, it was only a few minutes. 

“You know what? I don’t think anyone would even miss a punk shit like you, now would they?” Fuck. He didn’t have much time. 

_Okay. Calm down. Focus. Where haven’t you looked?_

Lance’s eyes traveled to the janitor cart that was right in front of him, the sides brimming with different rags and cleaning supplies, and he rolled it over to see if there was anything underneath of it. 

Lo and behold, there was a hammer sitting right where the cart had just been. 

Holding back a cheer, Lance grabbed the hammer and smashed the glass to the fire alarm, slamming his hand down onto the button, and immediately flinched when the blaring alarm began to ring. 

“What the-?” He heard Rolo say, before being swiftly cut off by what seemed like the boy pushing him away. 

“DON’T EVER TOUCH ME AGAIN, ROLO!” He heard the boy shout, and peeked his head around the corner just in time to see a flash of black as the boy fled out the door. Rolo stood there for a moment in confusion, before he hurried out the door as well, leaving Lance all alone in the bathroom. 

He’d done it. He’d actually, honest to god done it. He’d used his time powers and changed the course of the present! He saved someone's life!

Lance smiled and laughed shakily to himself, leaning his forehead against the bathroom stall for just a moment as the alarm continued to blare behind him. After taking a deep breath to calm his shaking hands, Lance made his way out of the bathroom and into an empty hallway…

Where he was immediately confronted by a very pissed off Kolivan.

“What were you doing in there? You should’ve been outside ages ago!” The security guard yelled, shoving a finger into his chest. Lance took a step back and looked up in surprise, wondering what the hell this guy’s problem was. His eyes darted around to see if anyone else was around, and saw only a few firemen wandering around, all too focused on whatever they were doing to notice the confrontation going on.

“I-I had to use the bathroom!” He exclaimed. Kolivan’s eyes narrowed.

“Oh, yeah, sure, teenagers always use that as an excuse. How do I know you weren’t the one who set off the alarm in the first place?” Lance felt his stomach plummet as his face blanched. He’d been too worried about saving that boy to think about the consequences of him pulling a fire alarm. Shit, they couldn’t find out it was him, could they?

“Mr. Kolivan, why haven’t you turned off that alarm yet?” Principal Thace said, arms folded across his chest in annoyance. 

“I was asking this boy here why he was in the bathrooms when he should’ve been outside.” Kolivan explained, his tone much more subdued than it had been a few moments before. 

“Well I think it’s time you leave him alone and go turn that thing off as that is your job.” Thace said, giving the security guard a pointed look. Kolivan grumbled and stalked off, which made Lance breathe a sigh of relief. Readjusting his bag on his shoulder, Lance went to hurry off, but Thace called out to him.

“Lance, would you mind coming here for a moment?” Lance’s breathing hitched slightly as he made his way over to where the principal was standing in front of the door’s to the school, giving Lance a kind but confused look.

“Are you alright? You seem a little shaken up.” It was in this moment Lance realized he could tell the principal about Rolo’s gun. Students weren’t allowed to have guns on campus, not even Rolo was exempt from that. He couldn’t just let him walk around with a gun in his pocket! What if he got in a fight with someone else when Lance wasn’t around? What if he went back after that boy? Lance had to report him.

“A-Actually, yeah, there is something wrong,” He began, wringing his hands in front of him. “I was in the bathroom earlier, and I saw Rolo Prescott come in and pull a gun out of his pocket.” Thace’s eyes widened at this, before his brows furrowed.

“A gun? Are you sure about that, Lance?” Lance nodded. “And were you talking to Rolo while he had the gun in his hand?” Lance shook his head. 

“No, I was behind one of the stalls when he walked in because I was trying to get a picture of a butterfly I saw. I stayed hidden when he pulled out the gun.” Thace let out a deep sigh at that, and pinched the bridge of his nose with his forefingers. 

“I understand. This is a very serious accusation however. I know Rolo’s family very well and I find it slightly hard to believe that a boy who comes from such a prestigious family would be waving a gun around in the boy’s bathroom.” Lance opened his mouth to protest but Thace cut him off before he could. “I’ll take a look into it, alright?” Lance closed his mouth and nodded, knowing full well Thace wasn’t going to do shit. 

“Now, head on outside.” Lance nodded and went to the doors of the school, hesitating as he reached for the door handle. Thace wasn’t going to do anything, the Prescott’s were huge donors to the school. If anything, telling him about the gun might’ve put a target on his own back. Could he really take that risk?

Lance was tempted to rewind and tell Thace he didn’t see anything out of the ordinary and that he was just feeling ill, but then he remembered how carelessly Rolo handled the gun. How genuinely... unstable he seemed. He should not have a gun, that much was for sure. 

Nodding to himself, Lance decided to stick with his decision, and pulled the door open, walking into the afternoon sun.

~

Lance blinked against the harsh sunlight as the door clicked shut behind him, and looked around the front lawn of campus. Students milled across the grounds, going about their daily lives like nothing was wrong. That was because for them, nothing was wrong. They hadn’t seen a boy get shot in a bathroom, they hadn’t found out they had the ability to rewind time. 

No, that was all Lance.

Suddenly, Lance was jolted out of his thoughts by the dinging of his phone, alerting him that he got a text message. Quickly he pulled his phone out of his pocket, fingers scrambling as he entered his passcode to try and see who texted him. 

**PigeonKiller:** yo lance do u still have my flash drive??

 **PigeonKiller:** i need it

 **thetailor:** for what?

 **PigeonKiller:** hacking stuffz

 **thetailor:** Yeah no prob, i got it back at my dorm

 **PigeonKiller:** sweet

 **PigeonKiller:** wanna grab it and meet me  & hunk over in the parking lot???

 **thetailor:** yeah sure be there soon

Lance put his phone back in his pocket and ran a hand through his hair. Pidge and Hunk were his two best friends at Voltron Academy, who also happened to be two of the smartest people he knew. Would they believe him if he told them about his crazy ass day? 

Pidge probably would believe him. She was a conspiracy theorist through and through. Lance and Hunk had been subjected to many late nights of her explaining her extremely detailed theories about aliens and how the government was hiding them. Hunk however, he was a little more practical and grounded in reality, so it might take some more time to convince him that he had super weird time rewind powers. But if he could get them both to believe him, then he was sure they could find a reason for what the hell was going on with him.

Lance nodded to himself and pocketed his phone yet again, and headed out across campus towards the dorms. Once he got to the bottom of the school stairs however, he noticed a cork board with different flyers and posters hanging about, and one in particular caught his eye. 

It was a missing person’s poster.

Lance looked at the poster and furrowed his brow as he realized he had seen this before. These posters for ‘Takashi Shirogane’ were posted all over campus, and he just hadn’t taken the time to look at them before

Shrugging, Lance pulled his bag up on his shoulder and headed out towards the dorms. He passed a few fellow students as he went, but didn’t bother to stop and talk to them. He had to go get that drive so he could find Pidge and Hunk and finally talk to someone about this crazy mess. He felt that if he didn’t tell someone soon he was going to explode. 

Once he made his way to the dorms, he ran into his room to grab his drive, but when he got to his laptop he saw a sticky note on it instead. 

‘I heard you had some great movies stored on your drive so I borrowed it for a little bit! Sorry, I know I should’ve asked but you were in class. Either way if you want it back just stop by my dorm! - Plaxum’

Lance sighed and ran a hand over his face. How did Plaxum even get into his room? Well, considering it was Plaxum, she probably had her methods. Either way, that question didn’t really matter now, as what mattered is that he had to run by the girl’s dorm to grab Pidge’s drive.

A few minutes later, Lance was walking into the girl’s dorm. He found Plaxum’s room with ease, and knocked on the door. He shifted his weight nervously from side to side as he waited, wanting to get to Pidge and Hunk as soon as he could. There was a bit of shuffling and a low murmur of voices from behind the door, before finally Plaxum opened it, her hair slightly askew as she stared at him with flushed cheeks. 

“Oh, hey Lance!” She said, smiling brightly. 

“Uh, hey Plax, can I get that drive back that you borrowed from me?” He asked. Plaxum’s eyes lit up, and she nodded furiously, her two dark braids swinging up and down from the force. 

“Yeah sure! Lemme grab that right now…” She ran off into her room and Lance waited patiently at the door, when suddenly he heard the sound of someone smacking into something hard, and a small yelp coming from underneath Plaxum’s bed. Poking his head into the room, Lance looked around, wondering where the noise came from. 

“Uhh, is everything alright?” Lance asked. Plaxum’s eyes widened, but before she could say anything a grumbling was heard from underneath her bed, before a shock of bright pink hair popped out. 

It was Florona. 

“I’m sorry Plax but I hit my head and it really hurt!” Florona said, rubbing the back of her head with a wince. She met eyes with Lance and a small gasp escaped her, and Plaxum sucked in a breath. 

“Okay, so, can I ask what’s going on here? Why was Florona under your bed?” Neither girl answered at first and Lance took that moment to take in their appearances. He hadn’t noticed it earlier, but along with the flush against Plaxum’s dark skin her lips were a bit swollen, while Florona had similars markings as well. 

Ohhhhhhhh.

Lance smirked at the two of them when he realized what they had been doing, and watched with a particular satisfaction as both Plaxum and Florona’s cheeks turned an even darker shade of red. 

“Never mind, I think I know what you guys were doing.” Lance said, giving them The Look™. 

“Lance McClain, just what are you implying?” Florona demanded with a frown. Lance waggled his eyebrows. 

“Hmm, I think you both know exactly what I’m implying…” He winked at the two of them. “Don’t worry though, my lips are sealed. I won’t tell anyone about Plaxum and Florona sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-” Before he could finish spelling, Plaxum stepped forward and grabbed his wrist, yanking him down so they were at eye level. 

“Don’t you even think about telling anyone McClain. Yes, Flo and I are dating but we’re keeping it low key for now, got it?” Lance nodded, suddenly remembering that Plaxum was a black belt. Plaxum stared at him for one moment longer, before she released his wrist and handed him the drive. Lance rubbed at it, having forgotten how strong she was. 

“Got it, won’t tell a soul.” He said, making a hand gesture to ‘seal’ his lips. Plaxum rolled her eyes while Florona giggled. Lance smirked and leaned against Plaxum’s dresser. “So, how long you been datin-” Lance was cut off when the paper he was resting his elbow on on top of the dresser slid forward, causing him to lose his balance and knock into a small vase full of seashells Plaxum had, which immediately went shattering to the ground. 

The three of them stared at the vase in shock for a moment, and before Plaxum could even say a word, Lance found himself rewinding to right before he put his elbow on the dresser. 

“Got it, won’t tell a soul.” He said, sealing his lips just as he had done a few seconds before. Florona giggled while Plaxum rolled her eyes, and Lance made sure not to lean against the dresser this time. “I’m gonna head out now, gotta meet with Pidge and Hunk to return this drive.” He said, holding the drive up for emphasis. 

“Oh, tell Hunk I said hi!” Florona said with bright eyes. Lance chuckled and nodded. 

“Sure can do, Flo.” Lance said as he turned to walk out the door. “By the way, next time you’re making out and someone knocks on the door, don’t hide under the bed. Either hide in the closet or move to the other side of the bed to make it look like you guys were studying together. Works every time.” And with that, Lance left the two girls and walked back out into the girls dorm parking lot. 

Before he could even get back to the main part of campus to where he was supposed to meet up with his friends, Lance heard two voices arguing behind a corner. Stopping, Lance slowly crept up so he could get a better look at what was going on. 

To his shock, instead of it being Nyma and a new one of her victims, it was Allura who seemed to be in an argument with… Mr. Kolivan?

“I told you I have no clue what you’re talking about!” Allura said, glaring at Kolivan. The man frowned at her. 

“I’m sure you know exactly what I’m talking about, I’ve always suspected there was something going on with you.” Kolivan said, pointing accusingly at her. 

“No! There’s nothing going on!” Allura insisted. “I’m asking you to please, just leave me alone! I haven’t done anything to you!” Lance narrowed his eyes. It seemed like Kolivan was being a shithead yet again. Of all the people to harass he was choosing to harass Allura? This was a major dick move. 

Without thinking, Lance stepped out from behind the corner, marching right in between the two of them. 

“Hey! She asked you to leave her alone so leave her alone!” Kolivan turned his head, his frown deepening. 

“You. Stay out of this.” He said, pointing aggressively at Lance. 

“No, you need to back off.” Lance said, moving to stand protectively in front of Allura. 

“And what makes you think you can tell me what to do?” Kolivan asked, leaning his towering frame over Lance. Lance stood his ground, refusing to be intimidated. 

“You’re harassing a female student behind one of the buildings for no reason other than you think she might be doing something wrong. If Principal Thace found out about this, I think it would reflect very badly on you.” Kolivan paused for a moment, glaring daggers into Lance, before heaving a sigh and turning around. 

“Don’t think I’ll forget about this. You’re here on scholarship, keep that in mind next time you decide to backtalk a staff member.” And with that, Kolivan stalked away, leaving Lance alone with both Allura, and his thoughts. 

Oh shit. Maybe he shouldn’t have done that. 

“Lance, that was amazing! Thank you for helping me like that!” Allura said, her eyes bright. Lance pulled himself from his thoughts and looked over at her. 

“Oh, yeah, no problem. What did that dick want with you anyway?” Allura rolled her eyes at that.

“I’m not sure exactly what it was, but for some reason it seems that Mr. Kolivan is under the impression that I’m doing drugs.” Lance nearly balked at that. 

“Drugs? You? Why the hell would he think that?” Allura shrugged.

“I have no clue. You know I never even go to the campus parties, and that’s where all the alcohol and drugs are.” Lance nodded, knowing full well Allura kept her reputation spotless.

“Well, I’m sorry he was bothering you but hopefully he’ll stay away for now. Anyway, I gotta go meet up with Pidge and Hunk. But I’ll see you later, alright?” Allura nodded, her smile way brighter and more genuine than it had been for the past few days. 

“Sounds good, maybe we can get some tea!” Lance grinned and gave her a thumbs up at that as he walked away. But before he could turn the corner and leave completely, a thought stopped him. 

Had he made the right choice?

Obviously he was happy he had helped Allura. Kolivan had no place harassing her like that, and Lance was glad he had been able to intervene before things got worse. However, he could tell Kolivan was giving him a warning when he had brought up Lance’s scholarship. The warning was clear: he didn’t want to get on Kolivan’s bad side lest he get kicked out of Voltron Academy. So was it really worth it to help Allura, but risk losing his scholarship to one of the most prestigious boarding schools out there? 

He could rewind. He could go back and instead of intervening maybe he could help in some other way. A smaller way. Like… 

Taking a picture! He could go back and take a picture of Kolivan harassing Allura and show it to Thace. That would give him evidence and maybe then that would stop Kolivan for good. 

But also… Allura would not be happy with him. She seemed so grateful for his help, and if he were to just stand by and watch as she got blatantly accused and insulted by the school security guard, he’d be no better than Nyma and her crew, now would he? 

Should he look out for himself, or should he look out for his friend?

Lance already knew the answer to that, and didn’t look back as he walked towards the parking lot. He ignored the imaginary itch in his right hand, the one nagging at him, telling him to rewind and do it again. 

It only took a few minutes for him to cross the front of campus and make it into the parking lot, and it didn’t take long for him to spot Pidge and Hunk sitting at the other end, both leaning against Hunk’s sedan. Hunk was talking animatedly about something, his hands gesturing wildly as he spoke, while Pidge nodded every once in awhile, her gaze focused on her laptop. As Lance approached, Hunk glanced up and his face spread into a wide grin, and he threw his arms out while Lance went running to hug him.

“Hey Lance! You’re here!” He exclaimed, wrapping his arms around Lance and nearly squeezing all the breath out of him. Lance just smiled and hugged back as best he could, until Hunk let go and he turned to Pidge, holding her drive in an outstretched hand. 

“Heya Lance, took you long enough.” Pidge teased, a small smile on her face as she took the drive and plugged it into her computer. Lance laughed, albeit with slight nervousness, and ran his hands through his hair before stuffing them into his pockets. 

“Yeah, sorry about that, turns out Plaxum borrowed it without telling me so I had to go get it back from her.” Pidge and Hunk both nodded in understanding. 

“That’s fine, I’m just glad I got it back.” Pidge said, her fingers flying rapidly over her keyboard. Hunk swung an arm around Lance’s shoulders, and turned to look at him. 

“But the real question is, are you alright, dude? You look a little pale.” Fuck. Of course Hunk would be able to see right through him. “Was it that fire alarm earlier? Because that was pretty scary.” 

“Um, no, not exactly.” Lance needed to tell them. He was going to have to tell them. They would definitely believe him, right? 

He hoped they believed him.

“Well then what is it? Is it something going on with your classes or something?” Hunk asked. Pidge had paused her typing and was now looking at Lance with concern as well, and Lance knew he couldn’t just brush this off now. 

“Well, uh, you see,” Shit, he couldn’t just blurt out that he had time powers, right? He needed something leading up to it. “So I was in the bathroom earlier today and, uh, well, I saw Rolo in there and…” Pidge and Hunk stared at him expectantly. “He had a gun.” 

“What the hell?!” Pidge said with wide eyes. 

“Holy shit! What happened?!” Hunk asked. Lance took a deep breath and looked at both of his friends, preparing himself to launch into a full explanation of all the crazy events that happened in the bathroom. 

“Well-” Lance was immediately cut off by another voice coming from in front of him.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?!” Lance’s head whipped forward and his breath hitched in his throat when he saw Rolo marching towards him, looking very very pissed off. “You think you’re all cool because you told Thace I had a gun? Do you have any idea who my family is?” Rolo was standing right in front of him now, and was shoving his finger into Lance’s chest. 

“L-Look man, I don’t know what you’re talking about-”

“Oh bullshit. I know you reported my gun to Thace so don’t bother trying to lie about it. What I wanna know is why you thought you could get away with messing with me.” Rolo had now grabbed Lance by the shirt, and he was desperately trying to escape his grip. 

“Hey! Get off of him!” Hunk reached over, trying to yank Rolo’s arms off of Lance. Rolo immediately let go of Lance and whipped around, punching Hunk right in nose.

“HUNK!” Lance shouted. Hunk yelped and cupped his face, but before Lance could go to him Rolo grabbed him again, this time by the face. 

“I practically own this school, scholarship kid,” He hissed, his fingers digging into Lance’s jaw. “I don’t think you’re exactly in a position to be acting as a little snitch-” Before Rolo could say any more, Lance heard Pidge let out what could only be described as a war cry, and suddenly Rolo was knocked off of Lance. He fell to his knees with Pidge clinging to his back like a rabid monkey, and was scrambling to get her off of him.

“GET OFF OF ME YOU LITTLE BITCH!” Rolo shouted, trying to reach around with his hands to pry her off. Lance could only watch as Rolo grabbed his friend by the leg and yanked, and sent Pidge flying onto the asphalt. Before Lance could react, a truck suddenly screeched into the lot and straight towards their group. The truck stopped just short of Lance, nearly running him over, and when he got a look at the driver he became convinced this was the weirdest day of his life.

It was the boy from the bathroom, the one who had started this weirdness in the first place. But not only that, getting a closer look at him, Lance realized he knew this guy. 

“KEITH?!” Lance shouted, staring in shock at the dark-haired boy.

“LANCE?!” Keith shouted back from behind the wheel, looking equally as confused. 

“LANCE! GET OUT OF HERE!” Pidge’s voice made Lance turn around, and he saw that his two friends were in the midst of fighting Rolo, who seemed to be trying to get to Lance. Pidge was on top of him yet again, pulling at his hair, while Hunk, who at this point had now straightened up, seemed to be trying to avoid the numerous punches coming from Rolo.

Lance looked to Keith, who hastily gestured for him to get in the car. 

“Come on! Let’s go!” Lance looked back at his friends just in time to see Hunk get socked in the gut, and shrunk back when Rolo turned his venomous gaze onto him. He took one step towards Lance and that was enough to make Lance jump into Keith’s truck, slamming the door shut right as Rolo threw Pidge off of him yet again, pounding his fists onto the window. 

“YOU GODDAMN-” Keith drove off before Rolo could finish, tires screeching as he raced out of the Voltron Academy campus. 

It was silent in the car for a few minutes as Lance’s racing heart calmed. He sighed deeply and leaned back into the seat, covering his hands with his face and groaning as he tried to straighten out his thoughts in light of all that had just happened. Not only had Rolo attacked him and gotten into a fight with his two friends, but Keith motherfreaking Kogane appeared out of literally nowhere like some angel with a getaway car to rescue his ass. 

Keith, who Lance hadn’t seen since the last time he was in Castle Bay five years ago. 

Keith, who was Lance’s childhood best friend. 

Keith, who Lance had been meaning to contact ever since he’d gotten back to Castle Bay, but kept finding reasons to put it off. 

Keith, who Lance had watched die in that bathroom earlier that day, and was so different Lance hadn’t even recognized him. 

Why was his life so weird?

“Thank you.” Lance finally managed to breathe out, pressing the heels of his hands into his eyes. “You really saved my ass.” 

“No problem. If I get a chance to make Rolo’s day harder than it needs to be then believe me, I’ll take it.” Keith said with a light chuckle. “What’s your deal with Rolo anyway?” Oh. Oh shit. Should Lance tell him he was in the bathroom earlier that day? 

No, he didn’t want to go into that right now. He couldn’t just casually be like, oh by the way I saved your life earlier today. Not after he hadn’t seen Keith for five years. He could tell him later.

“I have no idea.” Lance said, glancing over at Keith nervously, in hopes he wouldn’t catch the lie. 

“Well that dude’s an asshole so you might wanna steer clear of him if you can. You saw what he did to your friends.” Lance nodded, thinking of the many bruises the two of them were gonna have tomorrow. “Speaking of, they really took a beating for you.” 

“Yeah, Pidge and Hunk… they’re both really good friends of mine. I really owe them for this one.” He hoped things hadn’t gotten too serious between them and Rolo. 

If it had though, he hoped someone filmed Hunk punching the shit out of Rolo at the very least. 

It was quiet again between Keith and him. They hadn’t seen each other in five years, and during that time Lance had barely kept in contact with Keith. So he could see why things were awkward between the two of them. Lance glanced over at Keith, taking in how much he had changed over the years. 

For one thing, his hair was longer. Where before it was short and neat, now it was in a mullet of all things, as he had noticed before in the bathroom. Keith had also gotten taller, like Lance had, and was also a lot more toned than Lance would’ve thought. All of his features were a bit sharper, like the cut of his jaw or the hook of his nose. One of the most noticeable things though was the large, flame-like tattoo sleeve he had on his right arm. Lance wondered when he had gotten that, and why. 

Before Lance could voice his thoughts however, Keith glanced over and gave him a relaxed grin, the bright rays of the dying sun lighting up behind his head almost like a halo. 

“So, how was Varadero?” Keith asked as he put one hand on the wheel and one hand behind his head. Lance blinked a few times in surprise, having been jolted from being zoned out, until he finally registered what Keith had said. Then he realized he was talking about when his family had moved out of Castle Bay, and quickly gathered his thoughts. 

“It was pretty cool, living in a beach town and getting to live with my family and stuff. But it was a lot different too, living in another country and all. I felt out of my element a lot.” He said, fiddling with his camera in his lap. 

“But then you came back for Voltron Academy.” Keith said, not looking at Lance. 

“Yeah, they have an amazing photography program.” Lance said, smiling as he thought back to when he had first been accepted to the school. 

“So how long you been back? Five, six weeks?” Keith didn’t bother to hide the bitterness in his tone. That was one thing that hadn’t changed about Keith. He never bothered to hide when he was angry about something. Lance winced, knowing this conversation had been long coming.

“I’m sorry I didn’t call you, I really am. I was going to! It’s just I was trying to adjust living here again and I wanted to get settled in at school-”

“Look, I don’t need excuses. It’s done.” Keith said, waving his hand as he cut Lance off. His jaw was clenched tightly, and Lance could tell that this definitely wasn’t going to be the complete end of this conversation. They were gonna talk about this again eventually. 

Not wanting to lapse back into the awkward silence, Lance spoke.

“Um, so how have things been? I… I know things weren’t great when we left.” Keith let out a bitter laugh at that. 

“Not great? My dad died so yeah, that ‘wasn’t great’.” He paused and took a deep breath, seemingly to calm himself. “After you left my uncle moved to Castle Bay and became my legal guardian. I’ve been with him ever since.” Lance made a noise of surprise.

“Uncle? I didn’t know you had an uncle.” He said. 

“Yeah, I do. He was my mom’s brother. He was in the military and he’s an alright dude, but he can be kind of a paranoid dick.” Keith paused, biting his lip as he thought of something. “Actually, you might know him. He’s the security guard at Voltron Academy.” Lance felt his breath hitch at that.

“Wait, WHAT?!” Lance exclaimed, giving Keith a shocked look. “Your uncle is Kolivan?!” Keith nodded and Lance groaned, shoving his face into his hands yet again as he thought back to his previous interaction with Kolivan involving Allura. Great, he’d already made a bad impression on Keith’s only surviving family. 

“Yeah? Why, what’s wrong?” Keith asked, eyebrows furrowing in confusion. 

“I… I may or may not have gotten into an argument with your uncle earlier today because he was harassing a friend of mine.” Lance said, his voice muffled by his hands. To his surprise, Keith laughed.

“Yeah, sounds like him. I bet he got all mad when you talked back to him too. God I would’ve paid to see that.” Keith said, his bad mood from a few minutes earlier seemingly melting away. “Anyway, I think it’d be a good idea if you avoided Rolo for a bit instead of going back to to the academy. If you wanted we could head over to my place?” Lance looked up in surprise at Keith, startled by how sudden his mood had changed, and eagerly nodded.

“That’d be great, honestly. I don’t wanna go back until I know Rolo isn’t gonna hunt me down.” Lance said, hoping that Hunk and Pidge would do enough damage to scare him off, at least for now. 

“Sounds good. Warning: my house has not changed one bit in the last five years.” Lance laughed, relieved that the tension between them had dissolved, and smiled at Keith. 

“I’ll be ready.” He said. 

And so they drove, bathed in the light of the setting sun, as the world around them was set ablaze.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So ya that was a wild ride
> 
> I hope you guys enjoyed! I'm going to try to not make the plot exactly as it is in the game by changing small scenes here and there but overall the main plot will largely remain the same
> 
> Also Florona and Plaxum are very gay and despite the fact that Florona mcfricking died in the mermaid ep I still ship her and Plax just let me live okay
> 
> Let me know if you liked it down in the comments! All your comments make me super happy
> 
> ALSO MAJOR THANKS TO MY BETA(S) FOR THIS CHAPTER! YOU'RE GREAT
> 
> My tumblr: zarkondoms.tumblr.com


End file.
